Congratulations to both Vibe G. Frøkjær and Søren Vinther Larsen for each receiving a grant from Læge Sofus Carl Emil Friis og hustru Olga Doris Friis Legat.
Vibe has received 1.210.000 DKK in support for her project "Promoting women's mental health by identifying markers of hormone-sensitive depression?", while Søren has received 500.000 DKK in support for his project "Hormonal sensitivity and brain biology: Do oral contraceptives distort serotonergic brain signaling?"
About Vibe's project:
In this project, we will leverage novel data from a set of existing cohorts to identify common epigenetic signatures among women undergoing two different types of hormonal shifts (pregnancy to post- partum, starting a hormonal contraceptive) and with different risk factors (e.g. absence/presence of early life trauma) and evaluate whether these signatures map onto a spectrum of depressive-like symptoms or not. This will allow us for the first time to develop a molecular biomarker of hormone sensitive depression and to provide a clinical tool to promote women’s mental health.
About Søren's project:
The primary aims are to determine:
1. If use of oral contraceptives (OCs) distorts serotonergic brain function in terms of serotonin 4 receptor (5-HT4R) binding in healthy young women measured with Positron Emission Tomography (PET).
2. If so, we will evaluate what mechanism may underlie this, i.e., is it direct effects of the synthetic steroids or indirect effects of the change in endogenous hormone production due to the synthetic steroids.
The secondary aims are to determine:
3. If OC-induced 5-HT4R changes map onto the emergence of (sub)clinical depressive symptoms including sexual dysfunctions and changes in behavioral-, emotional- and cognitive processes.
4. If OC use affects brain activation during reward-related behavior.
5. If OC use affects brain structure in terms of regional changes in gray matter volumes.
6. If OC use affects resting state network connectivity measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).